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<p>Pyrolysis of biomass consists of heating solid biomass inthe absence of air to produce solid, liquid and gaseous fuels.In the first part of this thesis rapid pyrolysis of wood(birch) and some agricultural residues (olive waste, sugarcanebagasse and wheat straw in untreated and in pelletized form) athigh temperature (800ºC–1000ºC) is studied ina free fall reactor at pilot scale. These conditions are ofinterest for gasification in fluidized beds. Of main interestare the gas and char yields and compositions as well as thereactivity of the produced char in gasification.</p><p>A higher temperature and smaller particles increase theheating rate resulting in a decreased char yield. The crackingof the hydrocarbons with an increase of the hydrogen content inthe gaseous product is favoured by a higher temperature and byusing smaller particles. Wood gives more volatiles and lesschar than straw and olive waste. The higher ash content inagricultural residues favours the charring reactions. Charsfrom olive waste and straw are more reactive in gasificationthan chars from birch because of the higher ash content. Thecomposition of the biomass influences the product distribution.Birch and bagasse give more volatiles and less char thanquebracho, straw and olive waste. Longer residence time inrapid pyrolysis increase the time for contact between tar andchar which makes the char less reactive. The secondary charproduced from tar not only covers the primary char but alsoprobably encapsulates the ash and hinders the catalytic effectof the ash. High char reactivity is favoured by conditionswherethe volatiles are rapidly removed from the particle, i.e.high heating rate, high temperature and small particles.</p><p>The second part of this thesis deals with slow pyrolysis inpresence of steam for preparation of active carbon. Theinfluence of the type of biomass, the type of reactor and thetreatment conditions, mainly temperature and activation time,on the properties and the yield of active carbons are studied.The precursors used in the experiments are birch (wood) anddifferent types of agricultural residues such as sugarcanebagasse, olive waste, miscanthus pellets and straw in untreatedand pelletized form.</p><p>The results from the pyrolysis of biomass in presence ofsteam are compared with those obtained in inert atmosphere ofnitrogen. The steam contributes to the formation of solidresidues with high surface area and good adsorption capacity.The yield of liquid products increases significantly at theexpense of the gaseous and solid products. Large amount ofsteam result in liquid products consisting predominantly ofwater-soluble polar compounds.</p><p>In comparison to the stationary fixed bed reactor, therotary reactor increases the production of energy-rich gases atthe expense of liquid products.</p><p>The raw materials have strong effect on the yields and theproperties of the pyrolysis products. At equal time oftreatment an increase of the temperature results in a decreaseof the yield of solid residue and improvement of the adsorptioncapacity until the highest surface area is reached. Furtherincrease of the temperature decreases the yield of solidproduct without any improvement in the adsorption capacity. Therate of steam flow influences the product distribution. Theyield of liquid products increases while the gas yielddecreases when the steam flow is increased.</p><p><b>Keywords</b>: rapid pyrolysis, pyrolysis, wood, agriculturalresidues,biomass, char, tar, gas, char reactivity,gasification, steam, active carbon</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1998. / Trademark symbol follows Chemchar in title. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 130). Also available on the Internet.

Originally presented as the author's Thesis--Technische Universität Hamburg, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1998. / Trademark symbol follows Chemchar in title. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 130). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xii, 121 p. : ill. (some col.). Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-119).

Bioenergy has the potential to reduce the world's dependence on fossil fuels, and to decrease the CO2 emissions due to fossil combustion. Lignocellulosic and algae biomass have been presented as promising feedstocks for bioenergy production. In this study, a comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been developed to evaluate the environmental impacts associated with different energy products via different routes across the whole life of algal and lignocellulosic bioenergy. Results were compared per energy basis, the production of 1 million BTU of energy products. For the development of the comparative algae biomass conversion LCA, algal biomass was converted to liquid biofuels via a thermochemical gasification and Fisher-Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) process; and to electricity and heat via anaerobic digestion and combined heat and power (CHP) process. Overall results from the algae biomass conversion LCA showed that the process that converts algae biomass through anaerobic digestion and CHP process to electricity and heat had the highest overall environmental impact. Results also showed that the impact categories that appear to contribute the most to the overall impacts are ecotoxicity, human health non-cancer, and human health cancer. For the development of the comparative lignocellulosic biomass conversion LCA, lignocellulosic biomass was converted to ethanol and higher alcohols through thermochemical gasification and alcohol synthesis process, to liquid biofuels via thermochemical gasification and FTS process, and to liquid biofuels via a thermochemical gasification and FTS process that uses methane. Overall results from the lignocellulosic biomass conversion LCA showed that the process that converts lignocellulosic biomass into alcohols has the highest overall environmental impact. Results also showed that the impact categories that appear to contribute the most to the overall impacts are ecotoxicity, human health non-cancer, human health cancer, and global warming. This study determined that cultivated algae biomass feedstock has much higher environmental impacts compared with lignocellulosic biomass feedstock from forestation and agriculture byproducts. It was also concluded that thermochemical gasification and FTS process showed higher efficiency when converting biomass to bioenergy. In addition, the five biomass to bioenergy conversion pathways used in the development of this LCA study were compared. Results showed that the pathway with lignocellulosic biomass (feedstock), thermochemical gasification and alcohol synthesis process (conversion process), and ethanol and higher alcohols (energy products) has the largest environmental impact.

M. Tech. Civil Engineering / Rural communities in South Africa and Africa as a whole are faced with a problem of the lack of reliable, efficient, sustainable and affordable energy sources. This problem serves as a catalyst to the slow economic development of the rural communities. In order to eradicate the problem and expedite economic development, a need exists to expand energy supply from the national grid or introduce alternative clean, sustainable, environmentally friendly and affordable energy sources to rural areas. However, expanding the national grid would not be sustainable in the long term because 80% of the national grid energy in South Africa is generated from burning fossil fuels, which is neither environmentally friendly nor renewable. The aim of this study was to address the above challenge through scientific investigation of the feasibility of introducing biogas as an alternative source of energy in rural areas. The investigation was to establish a mix ratio of the three types of domestic animal waste namely cow dung, pig dung and chicken droppings, which would optimise biogas production. Biogas, which is a mixture of mainly methane and carbon dioxide gases would in turn be used for cooking. Therefore, the broad objective of the study was to optimise methane gas production through the anaerobic digestion of domestic animal waste.